Pendragon: Sword Of No Names (WIP)

Hello everyone,

You can call me Jason or J, whichever works for you.

TW: Extreme violence, profanity, slavery, abuse, persecution, trauma

Disclaimer: This is my retelling of the story, so it will be different from the original. Addition/removal of characters and changes to their names and appearances may occur.

About the game

Camelot’s most powerful ally was never its armies. It was never its strength. It was never its magic. It was always its bloodline.

The Pendragons had always carried with them a sword forged with dragon souls and divine fire, one that would only select the worthy to lead. But now it has been lost, discarded by the very bloodline that made it for fear of their own destruction.

Now the bloodline is nothing more than legend, and the kingdom is dying. You were never meant to reclaim it. You were given to Merlin as an infant and ordered killed. You were spared to be enslaved. A Hex was placed around your neck, caging your tongue and taking your voice and your heritage, making your existence a secret too dangerous to be said aloud.

That was until the sword chose you. Now the dead walk with you. Now the ancestors use you. When you surrender to them, you are unstoppable. Untiring. Unyielding. Divine in combat.

Terrifying.

Rejected by the very tool he sought to stake his claim of Camelot, Merlin has fled to seek refuge in the arms of your kingdom’s enemies. Darker powers have begun to stir beyond their gates now that the legendary Pendragon has returned.

To rule Camelot, you must prove your worth. To be human, you must determine what you are willing to sacrifice. For the sword does not care what you once were. It does not care what your name is. All it cares about is what you are willing to become.

  • Play as Male, Female or Non-binary

  • Romance any of the five ROs or none at all.

  • Wield the Unnamed Sword.

  • Learn to hone your powers as the new King/Queen/Monarch of Camelot and its outlying territories.

  • Figure out what the Ancestral Collective want from you

  • And finally kill Merlin.

Potential ROs
  • Trystan de Lyones:

Trystan was brought up to inherit power long before he realized what it meant because he was the only male heir to Baron Lyones. He became a prodigy, mastering the sword before most boys learned self-control. He was taught diplomacy before he could read and put in a training yard before he could hold a blade correctly.

But behind closed doors, Baron Lyones lacked patience.

Trystan was taught early on that vulnerability leads to punishment and that kindness can be exploited. He’s a perfect knight not because he can fight but because he is calm, disciplined, and unreadable among peers. However, he fiercely protects a gentleness for those he lets near.

He is aware of what cruelty looks like.

And he refuses to turn into it.

  • Guinevere de Valois:

Guinevere was born from scandal and raised in bitterness; she was never permitted to forget the circumstances surrounding her birth. Growing up under the watchful cruelty of a stepmother who saw her as living proof of betrayal, she was the illegitimate daughter of Baron Leodegrance and a woman the court was eager to discard.

Educated as a woman but handled like a stain.

When her future was in danger due to an arranged marriage, she opted for escape rather than compliance. She fled to Camelot, disguising herself as a boy under the name Gideon, and gained her position as a squire by hard work and keen intuition rather than ancestry.

Guinevere is witty, astute, and far more dangerous than most people think.

She has already fought through one war for identity; nothing will stop her from fighting another.

  • Lancelot du Lac:

The exiled prince of Benwick presents himself as though the world owes him something.

After his parents were killed, Lancelot was raised in exile as an orphan, his grief turning into a burning ambition. He is incredibly attractive and acutely conscious of it, and he abuses his charm with ease. He was brutally trained into skill by his uncle’s war-hardened companion, but the lesson of humility never fully took hold.

Lancelot is a cunning, vicious, and seductively confident man who is scarred everywhere except for the face he takes pride in. He easily manipulates, thrives on admiration, and departs before he can be abandoned.

To love him is to voluntarily enter a fiery and egotistical storm.

It’s another matter entirely if he burns by himself.

  • Nimue of the Veil:

Nimue was raised in the strict confines of the Church of the Twelve, where her very existence was supposed to atone for her mother’s transgressions. She studied doctrine in preparation for becoming a High Priestess, but doubt eventually caught up with her.

Nimue asked questions, in contrast to the devout people around her. Doubted where faith should have been unshakable. Then, in her time of great need for answers, The Goddess of the Moon came to her in the dead of night.

The Goddess rewarded her curiosity rather than punishing it. Now bound as the goddess’s mortal vessel and endowed with magic, Nimue now straddles the boundary between faith and independence, devotion and exploration.

Silent and reflective, she sees more than she expresses.

And the gods, with all their disdain for mankind, are keeping a close eye on her.

  • Asha N’kari Solé-Tatem (Secret RO):

Asha was unique from birth among the Tribe of the Golden, the children of sun and flame.

Her veins churn with storm, while theirs burn with heat. Her thoughts cause the winds to bend. Her silence is answered by thunder. Her gaze changes with the sky, turning blue under clear skies and gray before rain.

Her people call her chosen.

She calls it a burden.

Asha, revered as the Goddess of the Skies, carries expectations that she never requested to wear. She fights as if daring the world to disprove her; she is fierce, uncompromising, and fearless in confronting injustice.

But beneath the lightning is doubt and beneath the uncertainty lies something she is too afraid to name.

Demo is currently at 20k words. Updates may be inconsistent due to me being in school, but I will aim for an update at least once per month. It’s quite short, but any feedback would be appreciated. Have fun :victory_hand:

Demo

46 Likes

Oooh! I love your game already! Finally something realistic and mature. I really, really miss the heavy stuff that authors aren’t afraid to show in fictional stories. I’ll definitely play the demo! Good luck with the development!

11 Likes

So far so good. Definitely an odd start that will turn away some people (that’s okay though). The only issue I have is that it seems like our MC is jumping in and out of flashbacks/hallucinations constantly which can be confusing to read (which is probably the intended purpose), not much else for me to comment on. I’ll be here for the next update though.

8 Likes

grim arthurian retelling…such a treat

2 Likes

image

minor typo here, sorry for not remembering the page number.

wtf?

1 Like

Page infinitely loads after the section with the cradle and out of control fire. Not sure if it’s just a me thing or not. Spoilers for the choices (that I can remember) that led me there: No, master/woman/grey eyes/use the wall

Edit: I’m dumb. I just realized it might be infinitely loading bc the demo is already over. Derp.

Otherwise I’m liking it so far. Definitely agree that the constant back and forth jumps between flashbacks can be a bit disorienting, but it sets the mood. Otherwise the other main criticism I have is that the descriptions/walls of text can feel a bit overwhelming at times, especially with how few the choices are scattered in-between. It makes it a little hard to read, even if I enjoy how descriptive it is. A potential fix for that would maybe be to make each section of description smaller and give players more small choices in-between to help break it up/keep their attention and engagement?

6 Likes

I’m enjoying the angst and misery! Definitely curious to see where this goes :smiley: